


Xenophobia

by TheDefenderoftheFaith



Category: Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types, The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry Allen Whump, Batman is a jerk, Batman is a terrible human being, Gen, Internalized Xenophobia, Protective Hal Jordan, hal is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27179680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDefenderoftheFaith/pseuds/TheDefenderoftheFaith
Summary: It was strange to think about, sometimes, but Flash was the only metahuman on the Justice League.And Barry had been fine with that. Some of them had more power than others, some of them were stranger than others… in the end, it didn’t mean anything. Not really. Not to him.At first, he'd thought everyone felt the same way.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen & Hal Jordan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 75





	Xenophobia

It was strange to think about, sometimes, but Flash was the only metahuman on the Justice League. 

Batman, Cyborg and Green Lantern were human. Superman was an alien; Wonder Woman an Amazon. Aquaman came the closest of all of them, but even he was only half-human half-Atlantian. There was nothing meta; ‘special’, about his human DNA. 

And Barry had been fine with that. They were all doing their part, they were all using what they had to do the best that they could. Some of them had more power than others, some of them were stranger than others… in the end, it didn’t mean anything. Not really. Not to him. 

At first, he’d thought everyone felt the same way. 

He’d met Green Lantern before anyone else on the League, and Hal hadn’t cared a whit about where Barry’s powers came from. About what Barry _was_. He had accepted ‘I think an alternate dimension sent a lightning bolt to give me super speed’ with a ‘huh’ and had proceeded to try to get Barry to use his lightning to charge Hal’s phone. 

Then they had all joined together to save the world, and everyone was doing what they did best, and everyone was awesome, and then they made the decision to (from Barry’s perspective) be awesome together as friends on an official basis… and there was the Justice League. 

Sure, personalities clashed sometimes.

Sure, sometimes Batman sounded like an awful person. 

But it didn’t _mean_ anything. It was just… conflict. Normal.

But when they learned that Batman didn’t trust them, that there were secret plans and contingencies for everything from subduing them to stripping them of their powers completely… Barry had to know why.

Why would Batman do this? Why would he think that he needed to plan for Barry becoming a mass murderer? Weren’t they friends?

“Because you’re dangerous.”

_Sure, but not evil. Not bad._

“Your very existence is a threat to every man, woman and child on this planet, _especially_ those who don’t have powers.”

_I’m not a threat. I save people._

“By all rights, you shouldn’t exist. We shouldn’t have aliens and metahumans who can do what you can, and the world would be better off without you. Everyone would be safer, but you’re here, and someone needs to look past your golden facade and adorkable smile and pay some _attention_ to the fact that if you wanted to eliminate all human life on Earth you could do it in less than a _minute_.”

“But isn’t this too much? Don’t I have rights?”

“ _People_ have rights. You aren’t human. You call yourself the Fastest Man Alive, but in reality, you aren’t a man anymore. You’re your own species, your own category, and you need to be treated like the potential global threat you are at all times. If you’re going to exist, it needs to be in a controlled environment for the good of all _people_.”

_...Oh._

Batman had turned away, then, done with giving Barry the time of day, and Barry had sped off because he’d rather he didn’t cry in front of someone he had idolized for years.

Was Batman right? Barry didn’t want to hurt anyone: couldn’t stand the thought of being responsible for someone else’s pain because he hadn’t had the good sense to listen to Batman, of all people. If he was dangerous (he was) then maybe he should be under surveillance, maybe everyone around him should always be ready to snap his ankles and lock power dampeners around his neck. Better safe than sorry?

But he wasn’t… inferior, was he? He was still a person? Just because everything slowed down sometimes and the world turned into statues, or because lightning sang and danced around him didn’t mean… did it?

He hadn’t wanted to think so. Had held so desperately to being the same as everyone else, only faster but what if he was wrong? What if the lightning that had given him speed had stolen away his humanity?

But what did that mean for the others? For Clark? That couldn’t be true for him. Clark was good, Clark was the best person Barry had ever met… Clark was Kryptonian. 

Of course. 

Clark was what he had been always been intended to be. He was Kryptonian, just like he was supposed to be, just like Hal and Bruce and Victor were innately human like they were supposed to be, only adding technology to their repertoire. Like Diana was _whatever_ blessing of the gods she was, like Arthur was Human and Atlantian both. 

Barry was supposed to be human. But he had been twisted into a freak. 

If _anyone_ was a perversion on this team… it had to be him, didn’t it? It couldn’t be the others - they were too good, too incredible both in power and as people. 

Barry had always been the odd one out, the country bumpkin trying to hobnob with aliens and vigilantes and people who had literally been chosen above all other beings on the planet for indomitable will and goodness of heart. 

Speaking of.

Hal has found him, apparently, and Barry gives him his best everything-is-fine smile, but even though Hal is oblivious, sometimes, it doesn’t look like he’s going to fall for _this._

“Something wrong, Barr?”

_Do perversions get nicknames? It seems wrong, somehow. Of course, Barry is already a nickname, and he has no intention of going by ‘Bartholomew’._

“You were just talking to Spooky, right?” Hal frowns, realizing how very not-fine Barry is right now. “Did he say something to you?”

“We were just talking.”

“Is this about the contingency thing?”

Hal knows him too well. Barry doesn’t want to say anything, be a _burden_ , but Hal wills himself next to him, flopping down criss-cross-applesauce and fixing Barry with an intense stare that makes him want nothing more than to tell Hal everything. 

They’re friends, aren’t they? Hal should have a fair shot at knowing that he might be friends with a non-person. Barry feels his heart chill over at that, contract and twist because maybe Hal will _agree_ , think about it and decide that Barry was all good and well when they didn’t know anyone else, but now the League is here and there are other people like him and why even _bother_ with Barry anymore…. But Barry owes it to Hal to tell him. 

Hal deserves it. 

“C’mon, Barr, talk to me.”

“I asked Bruce why he would plan for us, for _me_ going rogue and… killing people. He said… I was a threat to everyone on the planet, because of my powers. And that everyone would be better off if I didn’t exist.” 

Hal looked angrier the longer Barry talked, and Barry hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. 

“He said I wasn’t a real person anymore. That I’d lost my humanity because of the lightning. That I needed to be controlled to protect... real people.”

Barry explains with his eyes glued in front of him and his knees against his chest and when he’s finally done he can’t bear to face Hal. To see what Hal will do. 

What Hal does is get mad. 

He grabs Barry’s shoulder, roughly, and spins him till he has to face Hal, who’s kneeling now, eyes burning green behind the white sheathes of his mask. 

“I’m going to use that pointy eared goth prep reject as a football and boot him into the next solar system.”

Hal grabs Barry’s other shoulder and holds him steady as his mask disintegrates into green pixie dust. “Don’t _listen_ to him, Barry. That jerk can take his insecurities and jump off a bridge with ‘em for all I care! He had no right to say any of those things to you!”

_But, he was right. He was right, Hal, he was right._

“You’re an _amazing_ person; way better than that overcompensating blockhead! You’re as human as I am, and-”

Barry hates to cut Hal off, but he needs to _understand_ . Batman is Batman and he’s smart, and practically always right and… and to choose Barry over _him_ would be… unthinkable.

“I was changed by that lightning: deeply, intrinsically; I don’t know how much. Maybe I can’t reproduce with humans anymore. Do you know what that means, Hal? It means we’re not the same species. I’m different. Maybe too different.”

“Only you could be insecure about biology. Come on, Barr. It doesn’t matter if you’re wired the same inside or not. That paranoid, xenophobic, idiot can say whatever he wants, but it doesn’t chage the fact that you’re the most amazing person any of us have ever seen. You’re always gonna be a better person than Batman, since he’s a jerk and you’re amazing, and that’s all there is to it!”

Barry smiles at him, soft and timid, and tries to make it seem like he can just believe that, but he’s never been very good with criticism, especially from people he cares about, and he let Bruce into his heart on the assumption that they would be friends. 

In a detached sort of way, he knows he isn’t going to be able to believe Hal any time soon. 

Hal’s eyes narrow, and his fist clenches around his ring, and Barry can _see_ him about to track Batman to the ends of the Earth and probably start 3 world wars. 

Quickly, Barry leans against Hal in an attempt to get him to stay. The League can’t afford to fight with each other, not like this. 

“Thank you,” Barry whispers, and hopes that Hal knows that he means it, and he hopes that Hal stays, right here with him and that he will let Barry draw comfort and maybe confidence from him instead of trying to mount Bruce’s head on a pike.

Hal seems reluctant, but he grabs Barry and forces him to stay pulled into his side, as though the roughness of it will keep Hal from seeming soft. 

“You understand that, don’t you Barr?”

Hal tends to be right. Sort of. In specific circumstances. And Barry _knows,_ intellectually, that he is vulnerable to automatically thinking less of himself, to internalizing criticism, that statistically, this is probably (maybe?) just another thing that he will get over eventually.

Of course, _Batman_ has never been there to side with the nastier voices in Barry’s head before, either. 

Batman was never wrong. 

Hal’s grip tightens around Barry’s shoulders, and Barry is reminded that he trusts Hal, trusts his best friend, more than, maybe, any person alive. 

Barry nods against Hal’s shoulder, tries to relax in the warm energy of the Lantern uniform, and hopes that, one day, he’ll be able to believe it. 


End file.
